Knitting machine



June 13, 1939. R K. M|| s l 2,162,024

KNI TT ING MACHINE Filed Nov. 26, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet l `lune 13, 1939.

R. K. MILLSl A 2,162,024;;-: y

KNITTING MACHINE Filed NOV. 26, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2" I A Hl ERlilills,

Patented June 13, 1939 2,162,024'lli PATENT OFFICE KNITTNG MACHINERobertv Kirkland Mills, Sherwood, Nottingham,

England, assignor to Wrightwear Limited, Sut- Vton-in-Asheld,Nottinghamshire, England Application November 26, 1937, Serial N o.176,747

In `Great Britain November 27, 1936 3 Claims.

This invention comprises improvements in or relating toknitting machinesand is particularly, although not exclusively, applicable to circularknitting machines of the multi-feeder type. In multi-feeder circularmachines there is commonly employed automatic stop mechanism adapted tobe brought into operation by the displacement of pivoted dropperelements co-operating with individual threads supplied to the needles;these droppers are normally supported in a raised position by thethreads and the breakage of a thread or the exhaustion of a threadsupply causes the dropper appertaining to said thread to fall and tobring into operation a device or mechanism for stopping the machine. Insuch automatic stop'mechanism the falling movement of a dropper, inaddition to bringing the machine to rest, also brings into operation adevice which causes all of the several droppers in the machine to springor rise toa substantially vertical inoperative position, that is to sayto a position beyond the normal inclined operative position, thedroppers being again brought into operation when the machine isrestarted.

No'w it has been found that when working with silk, art silk and similaryarns of a smooth or glossy nature on a machine employing droppers asabove-described, the disadvantage exists that When the machine isstopped at any time by hand in the normal Working operation, thedroppers suspended on the threads gradually fall until on-e or more ofsame reaches the position at which the catch mechanism is operated toraise all of the droppers to the vertical inoperative position, and whenthis occurs the thread Which has been drawn from the supply by thefalling droppers hangs loosely about the raised droppers and becomesravelled. Ihe reason Why the droppers gradually move down of their ownaccord when the machine is stopped is that the glossy or slipperysurface of the silk or art silk yarn, or yarn having similarcharacteristics, oifers a minimum of friction-al resistance to draw-off,and the weight ofthe droppers is sufficient to overcome this resistance.When'working with yarn of a less smooth or slippery nature, e. g., Woolor cotton, the possibility of the droppers falling of their own accordwhen the machine is at rest is minimised or eliminated.` If, in an.endeavour tov overcome the above disadvantage, lighter droppers-areemployed, such droppers although effective VWhen working withcompartively smooth or slippery yarn such as art silk, -wouldbeineffective when Working With the rougher yarn such as cottonorwo'ol:f

(Cl. Gti-158) An important object of the presentv invention, therefore,resides in the provision of meansv whereby droppers of uniform weightcan'be Yern-H ployed with equal eiiciency for use with all classes ofyarn of any count. The invention is, however, particularly applicable tostop mechanism of the f type comprising at least one movablethread-engaging feeler or dropper whichr moves upon breakf age of thethread or failure of the thread supply to bring into operation thedevice or mechanism for stopping the machine. VThis stop mechanism ishereinafter referred to as stop mechanism 'of the type specified, andaccording to the present invention there is provided, in orfor'aknitting machine, stop mechanism' of the type specified;characterized by means operatingautomatically upon stoppage of themachine to preventmovejment of said feeler or dropper, and/or to preventfurther withdrawal of thread,'until lthe machinel has again started. Aswill readily be appreciated from the foregoing discussion of thedisadvan-` tages at present inherent in stop mechanism, the said meanspreferably operates automatically upon manual stoppage of the machine,andthe mechanism embodies a plurality of droppersA and means whereby thedescent ofA any dropper, in ad; ditionto stopping the machine,` causesthe 'drope per to rise to a high position,

This invention also provides, in or for amulti'fjY feeder circularmachine, the combination "with stop mechanism comprising amovable'thread-en gaging feeler for each feed, eachof which feel'ers" isnormally positioned by the thread that'it engages and is movable, uponbreakage of the thread or upon failure of the thread supply, to stop"the machine automatically, of control means for stopping and startingthe machine manually, and means, interconnected with said control means,for restraining the feelers from movement when the machine is stoppedmanually and for'releas-VVV ing them when the machine is again started.Preferably, means areprovided for ensuring that a slight delay or lagoccurs between the starting" of the machine andthe release of the feeleror dropper or of each of them in the casev of a mul- For this purposethere Ais ti-feeder machine. preferably a control member which ismovable from a stopping position to a starting position' and 1 is alsocapable of additional movement afterthat. necessary to start themachine, and means wheres, by said Aadditional movement serves to.free'ith'e feeler-or dropper. Y

In order that the. invention may., be better:v understoodV"referencewill now be madetotzthez:Av

accompanying; drawings,v in; which:V

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the superstructure of amulti-feeder circular knitting machine equipped with stop mechanismaccording to this invention;

Figure 2 is a plan thereof; while Figure 3 is a View of a portion of themechanism looking in the direction of the arrow 3 in Fig. 1. Y

Each thread T, from the supplyY cones or the like mounted in thecustomary manner above the machine, is guided in its passage to theneedles (not shown) through eyes IIl or their equivalent. In its passagebetween certainv of the eyes the thread runs through the ring of `adropper which has a rod I2 extending radiallyinwards towards the centreof the machine and suitably pivoted in the bracket I3. As will readilybe understood the tension of the thread running through the dropper ringwhen the machine is knitting keeps the dropper in a raised position.When that tension is relaxed, however, the dropper falls, pivoting aboutthe axis of the rod I2. V`

At each feed in a multi-feeder machine there is mechanism identical withthat described. The various rods I2 at theirinner ends pass into a Stopbox |4 containing stop mechanism of any known or approved kind. Thisstop mechanism is so constructed that the part-rotary movement of anyrod I2 consequent upon the fall of a dropper releases with a sharpmovement a trip member here illustrated as a vertical pivoted rod l5,and also causes all the droppers to rise to a high, inoperative,position. When the rod |5 makes an abrupt turning movement an outwardmovement is communicated to the radial rod I6 which rotates a smallVcatch I1. The latter is therefore released from engagement with the end|8 of a trip lever which is associated with a lever I9 pivoted at 20 andis springbiased in a clockwise direction Vabout its pivot. The outer endof said lever I9 co-operates with a ramp or incline 2| on a lever 22pivoted at 23, with the result that ythe end of the lever- 22 formedwith the ramp 2| is depressed and the other end raised. This causessaidother end to disengage from a suitable recess in a catch bar 24 andpermits a lever 25 to move under thev influence of a spring indicated at26 to stop the machine. Said lever 25 may control a belt shifter, aclutch or any other suitable machinestopping device. By way of exampleit is illustrated as controlling a dog clutch 21.

In addition to its automatic operation as just describedV the said lever25 may be moved manually to vbring the machine to a standstill, andaccording to this invention means are incorporated whereby such manualmovement of the lever 25 also prevents each dropper from falling. Thecause of the tendency to fall exhibited by the droppers after themachine has been stopped manually and the consequence thereof isfhereinbefore explained.

Yma

75;.mounted and is drawnrby aftension spring 39 cam member 34 is drawninwards by spring 35 the pin ring 38 is moved in a clockwise direction.This pin ring is equipped with radial projecting pins 43, one for eachdropper, and by this movement each pin isV displaced (from the positionshown in chain-dotted lines in Fig. 3 to that shown in full lines) topreevnt the associated dropper 'from falling.

When the lever 25 is moved to start the ma.- chine the cam member 34 isdrawn outwards and the pins such as 43 are therefore moved away from thedroppers which are then free to operate in response to breakage of thethread or failure of the supply thereof.

Means are provided, however, for ensuring that movement of the pin ring38 to release the droppers does not take place until shortly after themachine has commenced to knit.v As a result the machine makes afew/revolutions and knits up the slack in the threads before` thedroppers are freed, and when the latter are freed they are supported bythe tensioned threadv that is travelling to the needles. To achieve thisobject in the construction illustrated the clutch 21 and the ramp 28 areso arranged that, as is readily discernible from Fig. 1, the ramp 28does not rock the lever 30 until after the clutch has engaged.

I claim:

1. In a circular knitting machine having manually operable control meansfor starting and stopping the same, and automatic stop mechanism of thetype specified, including a movable thread feeler arrangedupon threadbreakage or failure of the thread supply to actuate said mechanism toautomatically stop the machine, the combination of an arcuately 'movablering prcvided with a projection arranged tobe moved K into and out ofengagement with said feeler; means operable by said control meansarranged to induce movement of said ring, when the machine is stopped byhand, to cause its projection to engage the feeler and thereby preventthe latter from actuating said automatic stop mechanism, said means alsofunctioning to induce movement of the ring to disengage the projectionfrom the feeler when the machine is manually re-started through saidcontrol means; and means for delaying said disengagement of theprojection from the feeler until the machine is in motion.

2. A machine according to claim l, whereinvk the manual control embodiesa member which is movable from a machine-starting to a machinestoppingposition, and also has an additional movement beyond that necessary tostart the machine; and means whereby the freeing of the thread feelerfrom engagement with the projection on the movable ring is effected bysaid additional movement so that a slight delay or lag is obtainedbetween the starting of the ma.- chine and the release of the feeler.

3. A circular knitting machine according to claim 1, embodying aplurality of thread feeds and having a thread feeler associated witheach feed; and a projection on' the movable ring for engaging with eachfeeler. Y

ROBERT MILLS. ,Y

